The WA Liberals are about to make public an internal review into their humiliating state election defeat, and if already-leaked WhatsApp messages from an informal party group called "The Clan" are anything to go by, it should be explosive.
Key points:
- Mathias Cormann and several key state Liberals were part of the group
- The Clan prided itself on being able to legally stack Liberal Party branches
- Former premier Colin Barnett says the party has drifted too far to the right
The internal review examined the years leading up to the March poll, which left the Liberals with just two Lower House members and saw Nationals leader Mia Davies installed as state opposition leader.
More than 700 pages of The Clan's leaked messages have revealed internal game-playing and branch stacking.
Party members not affiliated with The Clan have told the ABC they hope the review will be a warts-and-all assessment of the election defeat and smash the iron grip of influence held by powerbrokers.
Here's what we know about The Clan so far
The Clan included the likes of former federal finance minister Mathias Cormann, who is now the secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, as well as federal WA Liberal MP Ian Goodenough and WA Upper House MPs Peter Collier and Nick Goiran, a vocal conservative Christian.
The messages detail how The Clan prided themselves on their ability to legally stack party branches with people they called "solid citizens".
In a 2016 message, Mr Cormann requested Mr Goodenough find another 30 people to stack into the northern suburbs branches of Woodvale, Hillarys and Padbury, in retaliation against a factional competitor's efforts.
"If he puts in 15 we should put in 30! Show him who is boss!" Mr Cormann said.
Meanwhile, in a 2017 message Mr Goiran wrote:
"It's official. I have too much time on my hands. I'm watching an episode of 'House Husbands'.
"I've just realised that despite the fact we've never had so many channels, there is literally nothing to watch.
"Tomorrow I'm going to find a branch to stack, this is driving me crazy."
Then in 2018, when Mr Cormann was appointed acting prime minister, Mr Goiran joked: "What time is our Clan meeting at The Lodge next week?"
The WhatsApp thread shows how as recently as July 2019, Mr Cormann, who left federal politics last year, was still wielding enormous power over the WA Liberals.
That month he pre-emptively congratulated The Clan on controlling the election of party positions at the Liberals' state conference.
"Tomorrow we will get 100 per cent of our candidates up uncontested for all positions, including all four state VPs," Mr Cormann wrote.
"That's a great demonstration of the strength of our support from across the WA Liberal Party after years of hard work as a team."
Mr Cormann also told the chat group that any WA Liberal who was prepared to take his "advice" in the 2018 federal leadership spill, which eventually saw Malcolm Turnbull ousted as prime minister, voted for Queensland MP Peter Dutton.
The Clan mocked Liberal women
The messages also show Mr Cormann making fun of former federal Liberal MP Julie Bishop's poor showing in the spill.
"Julie did not get a single vote out of WA other than her own. #sad," he said.
In a 2017 message, long-serving WA Upper House MP Peter Collier derided Liberal Women's Committee (LWC) president Robyn Nolan, suggesting a talking point for the LWC's next meeting be: "Robyn Nolan is a prize bitch and everyone hates her."
In the same thread, Christopher Tan, a former state Liberal vice-president who was in the chat, ridiculed the entire LWC.
"LWC has for so long been an impenetrable fort of incompetence," he said.
When asked by the ABC how branch stacking served democracy, Mr Cormann deflected the question.
"I served the WA Liberal Party to the best of my ability over a period 25 years," he said.
"Of course that involved working with many others as part of the democratic processes of the WA Liberal Party organisation."
Barnett wants end to federal MPs interfering
Former WA premier Colin Barnett said The Clan's WhatsApp messages were disappointing and showed the influence some powerbrokers had within the party.
He said the messages also highlighted the "inappropriate" influence of federal MPs.
"Federal members of parliament interfering with the conduct of state members of parliament, that should not be happening," he said.
Mr Barnett pointed to the party's controversial preference deal made with One Nation in 2017, when he was Premier.
He said he found out about it in the media and believed it had been stitched up by Mr Cormann.
"[That was] highly inappropriate and cost the Liberal Party a number of seats in the 2017 election," Mr Barnett said.
"The decision in 2017 to give preferences to One Nation was done behind my back as parliamentary leader and I read about it in the newspaper.
"That is just a malfunctioning party."
Mr Barnett said he hoped the Liberal Party post-mortem report would put an end to branch stacking.
"Preselection needs to be fair and open, so that people of good quality will nominate and be confident that it is going to be a fair contest," he said.
Mr Barnett said conservative church groups had too much influence within the party.
"The Liberal Party has drifted both to the far right and drifted back in time, to extremely conservative views that most people simply do not follow these days," he said.
"There has to be an attitude of fresh change, different attitudes, proper conduct, honesty, integrity — they are fundamental to reforming the Liberal Party."
One Liberal insider told the ABC they were concerned the internal review would not lead to any real change, because major amendments to the party's constitution would need to pass a state conference.
"There has to be blame put on the powerbrokers [for the election defeat]," the insider said.
They also said party president Fay Duda had been "complicit" in The Clan's WhatsApp messages and therefore "needs to go".